Sedated masculinity: the use of anaesthesia during vasectomy in Israel.

Vasectomy is considered a permanent form of contraception for men that can help reduce reproductive inequality. Its underutilisation in the context of the threats it may pose to perceptions of traditional masculinity has been closely investigated, but the lived experience of the procedure itself has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the experience of having a vasectomy in Israel, focusing on the recommended form of anaesthesia.

'My choice, my responsibility': views of Danish and Israeli female students on financing egg-freezing.

Over the past decade, egg freezing has evolved from being an experimental medical technology to become a commercial enterprise, accompanied by heated feminist debate. This study examined the views of Danish and Israeli female students regarding the financing of social egg freezing (SEF) (self, state, employer or family), and their correlation with country and feminist identity. A total of 569 female students (283 from Denmark and 286 from Israel) completed a questionnaire composed of closed and opened-ended questions on SEF financing under different circumstances (e.

Feminism, gender medicine and beyond: a feminist analysis of "gender medicine".

The feminist women's health movement empowered women's knowledge regarding their health and battled against paternalistic and oppressive practices within healthcare systems. Gender Medicine (GM) is a new discipline that studies the effect of sex/gender on general health. The international society for gender medicine (IGM) was embraced by the FDA and granted funds by the European Union to formulate policies for medical practice and research.

Gamete preservation: knowledge, concerns and intentions of Israeli and Danish students regarding egg and sperm freezing.

Research Question: What do Danish and Israeli students of both sexes know about age in relation to fertility and gamete preservation, and what are their concerns and intentions for the future in this regard?

Design: A cross-sectional comparative study of male and female Danish and Israeli students was conducted between November 2018 and April 2019. A total of 1010 students, 508 from Denmark and 502 from Israel, completed questionnaires assessing knowledge, perceptions and intentions regarding gamete preservation.

Results: More than 70% of both genders in Israel thought that women start experiencing fertility decline at age 35 and up.

Attitudes of Israeli parents of children with Down syndrome toward non-invasive prenatal screening and the scope of prenatal testing.

Due to its early utilization and increasing ability to provide genetic information, non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) has reinforced social and bioethical quandaries concerning prenatal genetics. This paper presents exploratory findings based on 20 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017-2019 with Israeli parents of children with Down syndrome (DS), four of whom also serving as representatives of DS organizations. Their views are presented regarding the pros and cons of NIPS; the social context of decision-making about NIPS; and views on life with DS and termination of pregnancies on that ground.

Pandora's pregnancy: NIPT, CMA, and genome sequencing-A new era for prenatal genetic testing.

Objectives: We delineate in this article a shift from the "traditional" technologies of karyotyping in PND to the current phase of advanced genetic technologies including noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), and whole-exome sequencing (WES) with their higher detection rate and related abundance of uncertain data.

Methods: Conceptual analysis based on seminal works that shaped the socioethical discourse surrounding the experiences of parents as well as professionals with prenatal diagnosis in the last 30 years.

Results: We consider the implications of this new era of PND for patients and health professionals by drawing on previous studies documenting how probability and uncertainty affect informed consent/choice, health risks communication, customer satisfaction and decision making, and parent-child bonding.

(Un) Natural Grief: Novelty, Tradition and Naturalization in Israeli Discourse on Posthumous Reproduction.

This article examines Israeli discourse on posthumous reproduction (PR) and the related cultural construction of "(un)natural" grief. Based mainly on an analysis of in-depth interviews with family members who submitted a request for PR, we examine the regimes of justification used by supporters and opponents of this technology. With both sides using the notion of "nature" to support their claim, the dispute centers on whether PR constructs a new social expression of grief (and hence should be seen as unnatural) or is only a reflection of an age-old grieving process (and is thus natural).

A cross-cultural analysis of posthumous reproduction: The significance of the gender and margins-of-life perspectives.

The scholarly discussion of posthumous reproduction (PHR) focuses on informed consent and the welfare of the future child, for the most part overlooking cultural differences between societies. Based on a cross-cultural comparison of legal and regulatory documents, analysis of pivotal cases and study of scholarly and media discussions in Israel and Germany, this paper analyses the relevant ethical and policy issues, and questions how cultural differences shape the practice of PHR. The findings challenge the common classifications of PHR by highlighting the gender perspective and adding brain-dead pregnant women to the debate.

Pregnant Genetic Counselors in an Era of Advanced Genomic Tests: What Do the Experts Test Prenatally?

Advanced genomic tests in pregnancy, such as chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), provide higher detection rates yet often produce probabilistic and uncertain information. This study aimed to understand how the most knowledgeable patients, i.e.

Posthumous Reproduction (PHR) in Israel: Policy Rationales Versus Lay People's Concerns, a Preliminary Study.

Israeli policy concerning PHR has been decided upon in an expertocratic manner, leaving the voice of the public unheard. Based on 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 Jewish-Israeli young couples, this preliminary study provides the first empirical data regarding lay attitudes toward PHR in Israel. Findings suggest major dissimilarities between the policy and lay people's wishes and rationales.

Bioethics governance in Israel: an expert regime.

This paper provides an overview of bioethics governance in Israel through an analytical description of the legal framework for the interface between individuals and biomedical practices. There is no national agency with general oversight of bioethics policy and decision making, and the rules that apply to individual usage of biomedical technologies are laid down in a multitude of different statutes, regulations and administrative directives. Expert committees play a central role in this regulatory system in two capacities: as governmental advisory bodies that recommend policy; and as decision-making bodies that resolve conflicts around patients' rights or grant individual access to biomedical technologies.

Egg freezing for non-medical uses: the lack of a relational approach to autonomy in the new Israeli policy and in academic discussion.

Recently, the Israel National Bioethics Council (INBC) issued recommendations permitting egg freezing to prevent both disease- and age-related fertility decline. The INBC report forms the basis of Israel's new policy, being one of the first countries to regulate and authorise egg freezing for what it considers to be non-medical (ie, social) uses. The ethical discussion in the INBC report is reviewed and compared with the scant ethical discourse in the academic literature on egg freezing as a means of preventing age-related loss of fertility.

The fertility myth: Israeli students' knowledge regarding age-related fertility decline and late pregnancies in an era of assisted reproduction technology.

Background: As in many advanced societies, the age at first birth and the rate of post-menopausal pregnancies in Israel are constantly increasing. Since Israeli university students are the most likely population to postpone parenthood, this study aims at evaluating their awareness of: (i) women's age-related fertility decline; (ii) age-dependent success rates of IVF technology and (iii) medical procedures allowing late and post-menopausal pregnancies.

Methods: Israeli undergraduate students (n= 410), attending four academic institutions and studying in different fields, completed a structured questionnaire in the 2009/2010 academic year.

When does a fetus become a person? An Israeli viewpoint.

Background And Methodology: 'Biological' and 'human' life or 'personhood' are not necessarily identical. While the Catholic Church does not separate the two, concluding that human life commences at conception, Judaism endows the fetus with personhood gradually throughout the pregnancy. Gradualism is also reflected in many Western abortion laws that prohibit 'late abortion'.

Egg freezing for age-related fertility decline: preventive medicine or a further medicalization of reproduction? Analyzing the new Israeli policy.

In December 2009, the Israel National Bioethics Council (INBC) issued recommendations permitting egg freezing to prevent both disease- and age-related fertility decline. The INBC report forms the basis of Israel's new policy regarding egg freezing. This article analyzes the medical section of the INBC's recommendations, comparing it with guidelines formulated by medical regulatory bodies in Europe and the United States.

Attitudes of social science students in Israel and Austria towards the belated twins scenario--an exploratory study.

This article discusses results of a questionnaire survey of 156 university students in Israel and Austria examining reactions towards the Belated Twins scenario, which entails the artificial twinning of embryos of which one is immediately carried to term while the other one is born later. The scenario resembles a case of human reproductive cloning in terms of result (the creation of genetically identical individuals in a time-delayed manner) but it involves gamete fusion like "natural" reproduction. By means of qualitative text analysis we discuss the core themes mobilized both in support and opposition to the scenario.

Attitudes toward sex selection: a survey among potential users in Israel.

Objective: Since 1995, Israel allows social sex selection (SxS) under certain circumstances. However, data regarding the attitudes of potential users are limited.

Methods: The study population composed of a stratified sample of Israeli married men and women at the reproductive age (women aged 17-45, men aged 17-65), who had 1-2, 3, or 4+ children of the same sex.

New reproductive technologies, genetic counselling and the standing of the fetus: views from Germany and Israel.

This paper reports findings from a comparative study of Israeli and German genetic counsellors' perceptions of the moral standing of the fetus. Data collected through in-depth interviews with counsellors in both countries (N=32) are presented, and their moral practices are analysed. The paper's findings suggest that while German counsellors perceive the fetus as an autonomous being and debate the particular biological stages through which this autonomy is acquired; Israeli counsellors do not consider the moral status of the fetus independently of its relations with its family hence, deploying a 'relational ethics'.

On new reproductive technologies and family ethics: pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for sibling donor in Israel and Germany.

This paper discusses the policy debate and ethical discussion surrounding pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for sibling donor (SD) in Germany and Israel. Based on an analysis of the regulations and ethical discourse concerning a unique form of new reproductive technology (NRT)--PGD for SD--we complement the scholarly discussion of NRTs in these countries, by pointing to an explanatory factor that has been so far neglected, namely the hegemonic notions regarding the ideal relationship between the generations, and the mutual obligations between different family members in Germany and Israel. We argue the fact that PGD (in general) and PGD for SD (in particular) have been banned in Germany, but were endorsed without hesitation in Israel, has to do with different perceptions of family ethics within the two societies.

Genetic counseling for sex chromosome anomalies (SCAs) in Israel and Germany: assessing medical risks according to the importance of fertility in two cultures.

In this article, I report findings from a comparative study of Israeli and German genetic counselors. Specifically, it concerns counselors' attitudes and risk assessments relating to prenatal diagnosis of sex chromosome anomalies (SCAs) such as Klinefelter and Turner syndromes. Data collected through in-depth interviews with counselors in both countries (N = 32) are presented, and the types of claims experts deploy in their personal and professional estimation of the risks involved in SCAs are analyzed.